Summary: Reaching childhood's end, Riku finds himself set adrift in a sea of changes and as always, is more than willing to stride on ahead. As long as Sora's willing to follow.
Warnings: Could be considered AU. Shota (underage,) slash (meaning boy with boy,) masturbation and general childish curiosity. Language that may offend.
I have warned you. If you are uncomfortable with this, then turn back now. Oh and as all my work, it's Unbeta'd.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, written purely to entertain myself and (hopefully) whoever else stumbles upon this and finds it entertaining.
Pairings: Sort of Riku/Sora

Paradox of Innocence

-x&x-

"The paradox of innocence is that, in all its forms, its first inclination is to destroy itself"
~ Lucilla Darkate

-x&x-

Riku woke with a gasp. Sweat trickled between his shoulder blades and down his heaving chest. His lungs seemed to burst as he sucked in air hungrily and scrubbed as his too hot cheeks. The heart in his chest, was thumping loudly and for a moment, Riku was almost concerned that it was about to fly free from his ribcage before reassuring himself that something of the sort was pretty much impossible.

His limbs felt heavy, snagged by the sheets and blankets that clung to him almost indecently. It felt like he had run a marathon. Or ten. At full speed.

Calming his breathing, Riku let out a soft sigh. Sora.

It wouldn't be the first time he had dreamed about his friend. He seemed to do it a lot. But recently, his dreams had changed. He wasn't quite sure what to make of the difference. Couldn't pin point it, exactly.

The thing being, these dreams weren't all that different. Be it of him and Sora racing pell-mell down the beach. Or doing other normal things together. The only variation being the way he felt so strongly about the visions. How Dream-Sora looked always made something inside him coil tightly with some unfathomable emotion. Sometimes his dream-Sora would throw him small, intense looks. Would smile at him in a way that seemed to make him so ridiculously happy and hot. So, so hot.

There was another little set back to these new dreams of his. With a weary sigh, he peered down between his legs to the bulge that had formed in his sleep. The blankets and sheets doing very little to hide the protrusion between his strengthening thighs.

This, had also been happening on a regular basis and he had yet to work out a way of making it stop. Sure, he'd experimented enough with it. He was a curious kid, it was kind of difficult not to see it and wonder and then try things to relieve the strange ache that formed. In fact, he had become quite proficient at easing the ache until all he felt was immense, breath stealing pleasure.

And he needed to take care of the bugger. Right this moment.

But… what if Sora wakes up? This thought was swiftly followed by the question of, I wonder if Sora touches himself like this?

As intriguing a prospect as that was, Riku had no real intention of actually finding out. Mostly because that thought—and by default the images that thought conjured—had left Riku impossibly, well…harder, than he already was and in considerable pain with the pressure. There was also the possibility that this wasn't normal at all. Getting this way after dreams of his friend, that is. Even though they weren't doing anything that would warrant such an effect.

Oh sure, after looking around Riku knew exactly what to call his problem. It started with an 'E' and ended with a 'N' and had six letters in between. He couldn't actually think of the word without grinning stupidly and somewhat childishly with a good mixture of embarrassment thrown into the convoluted mess of his prepubescent ruminations.

It was a product of the new influx of hormones that were taking over his system, already causing more physical changes in his body. Like the way he already had more muscle mass than most his age.

Besides which, it felt sort of… weird. Like he shouldn't be doing it and he didn't want to see what Sora thought of him after, if it turned out that he didn't actually get this problem when dreaming about Riku in retu—

He let out a hiss at the weight of his blanket and sheet shifted, pressed against him more tightly. I need to get rid of this…

But he couldn't do that now, could he? Sitting up a little more and loosening his sheet's near stranglehold of his torso, he peered over at his sleeping best friend. The younger boy lay curled into a ball in the small fort they had built earlier that night. Sora had been adamant that he sleep there instead of with Riku in his bed as he usually would.

Riku deliberated this a moment.

Sora was generally a very deep sleeper. It was late at night so he wasn't likely to wake up anytime soon and having the little brunet right there had filled Riku with a daring he didn't quite realise he had.

Biting his lip, Riku let his hand wander down the flat planes of his stomach then rubbed at it in a gesture of guilty nervousness. This wasn't any different from when he'd usually rub his stomach if it was sore or something except that it felt entirely different now. Almost tingly. Like the tips of his fingers were charged with electricity.

Keeping the touch feathery light, Riku let his digits dip a little to swirl around his belly-button before moving beyond, to the elastic of his pyjama bottoms and the sensitive skin of his inner thighs.

A puff of air escaped his lips as his hand accidentally brushed the hardened flesh between his legs and gave two light experimental tugs. Holding back a moan as he clasped a spit coated hand around the hot, rigid flesh.

Unfortunately, it was about then that thunder crashed loudly outside and the room lit up with the brightest fork of lightning Riku had ever seen in his twelve years of life. And as heavy a sleeper as Sora usually was, thunder and lightning had a way of reversing that ability. Rendering him extra sensitive to practically everything.

Instantly Sora was awake.

He was out of the play fort in seconds flat and flying under the covers of Riku's bed, much to the older boy's annoyance and embarrassment. Luckily, he had whipped his hand from his pants before Sora had noticed.

"Sora!" Riku snapped.

"M'sorry," Sora muttered, feeling only a little sorry. He peered out at his friend, unable to cease his shivering despite the thick blanket wrapped around his frame.

The elder boy frowned, even though Sora probably couldn't really see much of the expression since Riku's back was to the window and therefore his face shadowed. Unlike Sora, he didn't sleep with a nightlight. Even though he mocked Sora about this frequently, Riku found this fact about his friend somewhat endearing.

"You're such a big baby, sometimes," the elder stated, condescendingly. "You're going to be twelve next year and you're still scared of thunder storms. What would everyone else think if they knew?" He was aware, on some level that he was being unjustly cruel, but he was still hard and it wasn't going away. Even with the knowledge that Sora very nearly caught him with his hand down his pants.

Sora's face fell, then quickly turned accusing. "You promised not to tell anyone!"

That, Riku had, so what? But the look on Sora's face—what Riku could see of it—was falling once more and that made his gut churn uncomfortably. He hated that Sora could do that to him. With a simple look.

"Fine," he gusted a sigh. "I did promise. But Sora, you need to get over this."

The younger boy nodded eagerly. "I will!" he agreed, all too willing to accept and have his secret kept. "I promise Riku," he murmured, glancing away and at the sudden flash of light. He jumped and pressed closer to the elder boy for both comfort and warmth.

Riku let out a low hiss as Sora brushed against it. Because he had no intention of even thinking about just what it was when Sora was so close to him, brushing up against him the way he was or smelling so good all of a sudden. This had to be an effect of his dream. Riku couldn't see any other reason for his growing discomfort or that weird heat that centred down there.

"Sora, stop wriggling," he grunted.

"Sorry."

With a heavy exhale, Riku shut his eyes and tried to will himself—maybe Sora—to sleep. Or, at the very least, that Sora would continue to ignore that hard thing pressing into him from behind. "That's okay," Riku muttered. "Just, go to sleep, alright? I'm tired."

"I'm just trying—" Sora squirmed around, his pyjama clad rear rubbing up against Riku who gritted his teeth at the onslaught of friction. "To get comfortable."

Curse Sora. Curse him and his inability to stay still, even when attempting to fall asleep. More so since his squirming was doing a whole bunch of pleasant things—that really, oh should not be feeling quite that good—to Riku. If Sora didn't stop with all the movement, then Riku was in for some very difficult explanations later. Like why his pants were damp and 'no, Sora I didn't pee myself' yeah, that was sure to go over well. Damnit stop movi—

"Sora."

"I'm sorry!" Sora apologised.

Letting out a soft groan—both of frustration and pleasure—Riku grabbed Sora roughly by the hips and stopped the younger, smaller boy from moving. "Stop it," he hissed, directly into the brunet's ear. "Or you can go back into the fort."

The smaller boy nodded rapidly, no doubt in trepidation. "Sorry," he murmured again.

Both settled down. Sora no longer moving and Riku still uncomfortably hard and pressed against Sora's back, with it somehow managing to be wedged—oh so perfectly—between the pyjama clad cheeks of his friend's rear. And wow was it wreaking havoc on Riku's nerves and self restraint. This was wrong. So very wrong.

Maybe he should turn around…

But Sora felt so frigging warm pressed against him like this and there was something intrinsically… perfect? about how they fit together like a puzzle piece. Riku at Sora's back, keeping watch over his smaller and at times, ridiculously innocent friend. As it had always been. As things should always be. Riku couldn't really see things any other way. It was hardly that simple and clean cut, though. Not anymore.

"G'night, Riku," Sora yawned and the elder boy grinned faintly into his friend's soft tresses.

It tickled his face and nose. The scent a mixture of his own shampoo and boy and fresh sweat and something so utterly Sora that he found himself momentarily captivated. Then he sighed and the feeling vanished.

"Night."

He let out a soft sigh, feeling himself being tugged down that drowsy passage between sleep and the waking world. It was still pressing against Sora, an unyielding reminder that things were changing between them, for better or worse. But for the moment, at least, Riku was content to let things lie. To ignore his own issues in favour of soothing Sora's. In favour of just sleeping next to his best friend.

Then Sora did the unthinkable and all Riku could do was bite his lip, eyes shooting open in something like shock and a whole lot like ecstasy and silently parrot every single bad word he'd ever heard in his short span of life.

"R-Ri-Riku?"

The elder boy grunted, beyond words as Sora tugged at it. Oh the irony. Sora was the one with Riku's… er, thing in his clutches and yet it was the younger boy who was sounding suddenly very timid and worried. Some part of Riku found it all ridiculously funny. So funny, he wanted to laugh. The other part was trying his damnedest not to do anything stupid. Like bucking into Sora's hand. Even if it was through the cotton of his pyjama pants.

"…What is t-that?" Sora added.

This, Riku decided, was just too funny. He pushed Sora away, forcing the smaller boy to release him. Surprisingly, it seemed the brunet had forgotten all about the storm ravaging the island outside. Instead his entire being was focused on the elder boy as he turned to face him.

Riku considered the other a moment in silence, feeling oddly at ease all of a sudden. Then; "What do you think it was?"

"I—" Sora hesitated, unsure. His face was lit up in a fleeting blaze of white and blue, revealing his uncertainty. The confusion. His curiosity. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "It's in your pants. It felt like—but it was hard. Riku, what if you've got a monster—"

Okay. This was getting out of hand.

"It's not a monster, Sora," Riku explained with great patience and some fondness. Only his friend would jump to the conclusion that Riku was harbouring some creature down his pants. And again, he felt a small part of him wanting to laugh but more than that, another idea had come to him and he smirked at his own ingenuity. "Do you trust me?"

"That's a stupid question," Sora muttered.

But Riku wasn't particularly appeased by the statement and frowned. Until this point he was certain that Sora trusted him completely, still he couldn't go through with his plan unless the younger boy gave his word. "Do you?" He pressed.

"You're my best friend!" Sora exclaimed, wriggling closer. "Of course I trust you!"

That was all Riku wanted to confirm. His smirk returned full force. "Then I'll let you know something special, okay?"

"Okay!" Sora nodded, enthusiastically and if not a little spastically. Hair flopping about like a puppy's oversized ears. It was—for lack of a better adjective on Riku's part—simply adorable.

"But this is a secret," Riku added, lowly. His idea taking root with each word falling from his lips and a growing anticipation he couldn't quite fathom but figured it had something to do with teaching Sora something new. "Only we can know this. You can't tell anyone else—Not our parents, our other friends. Not even Kairi," he tacked on, foreseeing the question before Sora asked it.

This time Sora paused. "Um… Okay," but he sounded unsure again. "I promise, Riku!"

Riku smiled, though most of it was lost to the night. "Good. Now you have to remember to keep quiet. I don't want my Mom or Dad hearing us, alright?"

Like they would. What with the wind roaring outside like a wild thing, the crack of thunder that split the darkness as it chased the light across the sky every so often. Riku doubted his parents would hear very much at all. Still, better to be safe. He had assumed he'd be undisturbed by Sora and look what had happened.

"Alright!"

Sometimes, Sora is just too easy, The platinum haired boy mused. But Sora wanted to know this and as the older, clearly more knowledgeable of the pair, Riku figured it was his duty to teach his inexperienced friend. As he so often did with practically everything. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

And I shall end it there. Mostly because I feel largely uncomfortable writing anything remotely explicit when involving two minors. (Usually why the youngest my charas are, tend to be 16-aka LEGAL where I hail from.) I don't know, I may add on to this depending on the reception of this piece but for the moment, I shall dub it complete. That, and I want one piece of writing on my page that actually reads 'Complete.'

Feel free to drop a review. You may flame if you feel the need. Though I hope you enjoyed it and was able to understand the main theme beneath this piece.

~Gen